Deep Shadows, Bright Light
by Joshua The Evil Guy
Summary: One Shot. Maya and Riley are Conduits in the post-Infamous: Second Son world.


Title: Deep Shadows, Bright Light

Author: Joshua

Rating: T (Teen), SL (Strong Language), V (Violence), AC (Adult Content)

Disclaimer: Disney owns Girl Meets World and all characters. Sucker Punch Productions and Sony Entertainment owns the _Infamous_ franchise, with some mild spoilers for _Infamous: Second Son_ and _Infamous: First Light_.

Summary: Maya and Riley are Conduits in the post-Infamous: Second Son world. One-Shot.

AN: " _Narrator/Voice Over/Maya's LIGHT Voice"_ , "Speaking", ' _Thoughts'_ , " **Riley's DARK Voice** ", " _ **Telepathy/Fusion Voice**_ "

Story:

" _Eight years ago, a small group of humans called 'Conduits' emerged—each with the ability to manipulate and even weaponize a unique form of matter."_

Two young women, one dark-haired the other blond, made their way through the crowd of people as they exited the subway station, trying to remain unnoticed. Just another pair of faces among the faceless masses. They both looked sad, or perhaps burdened by some unknowable weight laid upon their shoulders. Their clothes and general appearance reflected that, as each of their back-length hair hung in wet stringy clumps, maybe from the rain, but from the way they ducked their heads, allowing the wall of hair to hide their faces from those around them, it was clear that they were hurting, even to strangers that had no idea who these two were.

" _The Department of Unified Protection was formed to hunt down and indefinitely detain all Conduits (reclassified as 'Bio-Terrorists') to protect the population. It is believed that all Bio-Terrorists have been successfully captured and locked away."_

After leaving the station and making their way up to street level, the two young women briefly looked around before heading straight for the pedestrian walkway for the Lincoln Tunnel bridge. It was too dangerous for them to remain in the city any longer. The reason why being all too obvious as they saw what awaited them right in front of the Tunnel.

A D.U.P. checkpoint.

" _As a result, the Department of Unified Protection was phased out, with the intention being that the military would assume oversight of all imprisoned Bio-Terrorists. One year ago, the first military transport of Bio-Terrorists left the D.U.P. detention facility at Curdun Cay Station, headed for an army prison in upstate Washington. It never arrived."_

People and cars were already backed up to almost a full block from the actual checkpoint. The queue seemed rather straightforward and moving right along. People walked up to the scanner, put their hands on it, looked into the scanner, and then the gate opened and they walked through to then be escorted by armed soldiers to the other side, where they did it again. The handful that set off the scanner were subdued and dragged over to a detainment area, which is the politically correct way of saying they were put into a cage. Both girls couldn't help but notice that the scanner didn't _necessarily_ have to go off for the soldiers to toss somebody into the cage.

"What are we going to do, Peaches?" the brunette whimpered upon seeing their escape to freedom being blocked.

"I don't know, Honey," the blond answered, holding tight to the other girl's hand. "But we'll figure a way around this. I promise. Hey," she held up her other hand, a single adornment on the index finger, "Ring power."

"Thunder," her friend held up her own hand with the matching ring.

"Lightning," she nodded back.

" _In Seattle, WA, a young Conduit by the name of Delson Rowe defied the D.U.P. and changed how the world viewed Conduits. He revealed the web of corruption and lies unleashed by the Director of the D.U.P. Brooke Augustine and her attempt as reinforcing the need for D.U.P. presence by releasing three 'rogue' Bio-Terrorists and allowing them to run amuck. Delsin corralled the other Conduits and inspired them to help and save people rather than do what Augustine wanted. He saved Seattle and drove out the D.U.P. gaining public support and saving several political figures in the process. Unfortunately, the D.U.P. is in more cities beyond Seattle, and just because a few Conduits became heroes does not mean the whole race is seen that way now."_

"Seriously though, what are we going to do?" she asked again. "There is no way else out of the city, Farkle couldn't even get us a ride on his dad's helicopter! We can't stay here anymore."

"Yeah, that's true, we can't," the blond agreed, her eyes dead and emotionless.

Seeing this, she held her friend's hand tighter, saying, "It isn't his fault, Maya. Lucas, he just…"

"What, Riley?" Maya snapped at her. "What did Lucas 'just'? What could you possibly say to make _what he did_ OK? He got… he betrayed us. And I will never forgive him for what he did."

Riley shook her head, tears pooling in her brown eyes, but she couldn't say anything that would change what had happened. Still, she had to say something. "He just lost too much," she said. "He used to live in New Marais. His mom and sister were…"

"I know what his excuse is, Riley," Maya snapped. "It still doesn't make what he did right! We… we should stop talking about this. Right now, we have to focus on getting out of the city, and with the subways closed down, the bridge is our only shot. Is there any way that we can go to your parents? Or maybe Shawn? Get one of them to drive us across?"

"Uncle Shawn is in Los Angeles for a story," Riley morosely pointed out. "And… my parents are already doing everything they can for us, Maya. I don't want them to get… to get hurt."

Eyes dead once more, the blue-eyed blond merely nodded her head once.

"Then we have a choice to make," she declared.

"What choice is that?" Riley wanted to know.

"Either we can try and sneak past the _Dupes_ , maybe cause some kind of riot or distraction and get by in the confusion, or…" Maya trailed off, her eyes going hard.

"Or…?" Riley squeaked out.

"Or we go through them. The _hard_ way," the look she gave her best friend as she said this spoke volumes so there was no need for elaboration. The both merely looked down at their joined hands. There were brief sparks, like glitter but brighter, all around Maya's hand, while a deep shadow appeared to cover Riley's.

"What's it gonna be, Sweetie?" Maya asked, as time seemed to freeze, the whole of existence waiting for Riley's answer.

" _One Year Later, the D.U.P. is still active, and still doing what they'd been doing since day one; hunting down and capturing Conduits. Meanwhile the governments of the world and the general public endlessly debate what it means to have people with actual super powers running around, none of them doing anything more than talking about it, and only the D.U.P. or other agencies just like them actually_ doing _anything! So, when two young girls get outed as Sym-Cons, (Symbiotic Conduits, a status that was thought only to happen when two Conduits used the_ Power Transfer Device _), rather than continue to be treated as normal girls with some additional training needed, they get ostracised and outed to the government by one of their closest friends. The consequences of which resulted in the death of the only family one of those girls had. And now those two girls face a choice; Create a distraction to draw the D.U.P. away from the bridge and sneak through in the confusion, or Link Up and walk out to confront the D.U.P. directly and fight their way past."_

"I don't know! I need to think about this Maya!" Riley whined, holding her hand tight. "I don't want to hurt anybody, and besides, there isn't any way of knowing if we can even get past them in the first place? How about if we just, I don't know, try to swim? Or fly! We can fly now!"

"Yes, but only when we're using _all_ of our power," Maya pointed out. "They'd be on us as soon as they saw us land, and by that point we'd both be exhausted."

"Well, exhausted or not, that is the same thing that will happen if we try and go through them the hard way," Riley said as counterpoint.

"I am open to suggestions," the blond shrugged.

Unfortunately, no matter what choice they might have made, all options were soon taken out of their hands. Even though they were still some distance from the checkpoint, all of the alarms around started going off and a handful of 'civilians' pulled out weapons and circled around the pair of girls at the same time over a dozen armored D.U.P. enforcers dropped down from the rooftops and drones and a couple of helicopters began flying overhead. Every person that was not with the anti-Conduit organization very quickly realized what was going on and ran off away from the danger.

Knowing they couldn't go back, and being too stunned to react at first, Riley and Maya just stood there in the middle of the street as the area very quickly transformed into a battlefield with the lines already drawn. Seeing the situation for what it was, the two of them knew what decision had been made for them, and responded accordingly.

Maya stood on Riley's left.

Riley stood on Maya's right.

They took one another's hand and _linked up_!

In the silence that reigned, for the few moments where the mounting tension was unmistakeable, one could not help but notice the dancing shadows and flying lights converging on the pair at the center of potential violence. It was at the height of this silence that permitted all those around to actually hear as the quiet was broken.

"You are all making a terrible mistake," the brunette warned them, speaking in her 'Angry-Serious-Riley-voice'. It was unmistakeable and actually gave some grown men actual chills just hearing it.

"But don't think for a minute that the mistake is anyone's but yours," the blond said in a gravelly tone of danger.

"We're just innocent girls," Riley said, shaking her head. "Maybe not normal, but we're good, innocent girls, who just want to go to school and do all those things we're supposed to when growing up. I just wanted to meet the world, get to know it, be its friend."

"I just wanted to live in it and not get trampled on," Maya added.

"But you've decided for us," Riley said angrily. "You don't want us in your world. Well, that's fine then. We'll just go out and make our own world! But just remember, all of ya! This, and everything that follows, was _your_ decision! It's _your_ mistake!"

By this point, even for those that hadn't noticed until now, nobody could mistake what was happening. Every source of light, artificial or otherwise as even the slowly setting sun seemed to be drawn in, there were streamers of light and pure white energy floating down to swirl around and be drawn into the body of one of the girls. At the same time, every cast shadow and corner of inky black darkness flowed toward the ground at their feet and was absorbed by the other girl. For those watching, the distinction between the two was rather obvious and blatant. For those that actually knew these two young women—the world had forced them to grow up—they would be truly surprised to learn which was the Conduit of _Light_ and which was the Conduit of _Dark_.

"Oh yeah," the now-obsidian-eyed Riley spoke as her brown hair turned black and began to wave in a nonexistent wind and voice took on an otherworldly quality, "one last thing; The brighter the light, _the deeper the_ _ **shadow**_ **s**!"

"And in the darkest place, even a small light," said Maya, her eyes shining with an inner light as her blond hair began to glow brightly and voice sounded like that of an avenging angel from on High, " _can shine_ _ **bright**_!"

"OPEN FIRE!" the lead officer ordered, and the full might of the D.U.P. was unleashed upon the fully charged Sym-Cons.

Only the bullets never reached them as the shadowy blackness at the pair's feet surged upward and created a wall between the two Conduits and all the threats around them. At the same time, Maya lifted her hand that wasn't holding Riley's and unleashed a blinding supernova of light, which had most of the enemy soldiers crying out in pain and turning away or covering their eyes. Either way, they soon stopped firing, at least the ones on foot with guns did. The ones in tanks or controlling the drones had filters that let them ignore the light and continued firing into the dark shield.

Without a word said between the two of them, (they can read each other's minds after all), they switched from defense to offense in a heartbeat. Riley raised her right hand and then clenched her fist. At the same exact moment, tiny—at first—black holes began to appear over those that were cowering from Maya's light. Those holes quickly grew in size until they were as large as the person they hovered over. Each person was then drawn up into the black hole, where they were consumed and ultimately revealed to be fully restrained in a shadow-like construct, which kept them contained no matter how much they struggled.

Maya cut off the supernova light and switched her attention to the drones flitting about, firing what could have been stun darts or something far more sinister. The only clue that anybody had that something happened was the drones exploding and falling out of the sky. Although, in looking back at footage of the incident, they would come to realize that in the instant before they fell, there was a straight beam of white light connecting Maya's hand to the drone, but was only there for the same instant that lightning lasts in the skies.

Unfortunately, they still had to deal with the tanks and there were a lot of soldiers, too many for Riley to subdue on her own. It certainly didn't help that they were still standing in the middle of the street, making them sitting ducks. When one such shell from a tank came a little too close for comfort, they made another mutual, simultaneous decision and started running, while still holding hands.

Only, they weren't just moving their feet really fast…

Maya's halo of light soon encompassed her whole body and while people would swear that there was a trail of after-images left behind in her wake, it was equated to the same effect one gets from staring at a bright light for too long, or watching a car go by with its head and tail lights on. Riley, on the other hand, seemed to have become part shadow and was flitting about the same way that a shadow dances or flows along a wall or the ground. And yet, somehow, she was actually pulling ahead of Maya at times, who was travelling at lightspeed almost. Some distant shooters tried to keep up, but any bullets or explosions aimed at the pair, found them already far past by the time it would've done anything to affect them.

Running in a quick circle around the perimeter of the battlefield, Riley worked quickly to capture or restrain the remaining foot soldiers, while Maya did the same for the drones and any distant snipers they happened to spot. Less than five minutes after the confrontation had begun, there was a lull in the shooting, and the Conduits stopped running for a few seconds, reappearing in the same spot they'd started from. They took the time to 'recharge', bringing in another swirl of light from the air, and swamp of darkness from the ground.

" **Think that's all of them**?" Riley asked, her voice still otherworldly with her hair still black and wavy.

Before she could answer, there was the sound like a rock striking pavement, four times over, and the girls found themselves surrounded on four sides by rather large, specially armored, yet unarmed, D.U.P. soldiers. Maya smiled, her hair still shining and her voice with its own unique supernatural quality as she replied, " _No, I don't think that is all of them, Riley._ "

Pieces of rock and concrete began to fly up and circle the four soldiers, telling the two Prime Conduits all they needed to know about their new opponents.

" **Should we try?** " Riley asked.

Maya shrugged and answered, " _Why not?_ "

With that decided, the two of them finally let go of each other's hands, but that did nothing to break their connection. As evidenced by the stream of light flowing out of the shining blond and stretching toward the shadow-covered brunette, even as a corona of darkness flew along and around the same beam of light toward her partner. They both continued to draw in their respective element, even as they sent a portion to super-charge and remain connected with the other.

The D.U.P. soldiers, enhanced and augmented with an inferior copy of their leader's own Conduit ability over concrete, saw this and immediately began shooting out small rock/concrete projectiles, even as they covered themselves with stone armor and shields. Used to inexperienced, or even non-Conduit protestors, these East-Coast D.U.P. soldiers were unprepared for what happened next, having expected their projectiles to hit and disable the Conduits for capture. Instead, the dark-haired girl almost seemed to melt into the shadows at her feet and surrounding the area, even as the blond streaked forward in a flash, completely avoiding their attacks. All throughout this, the band of light and shadow continued to connect the pair.

When the shadows at their own feet suddenly began to reach out, the soldiers knew they had to move, and each of them used their diluted Conduit power to launch themselves into the air with concrete pillars, giving them a boosted jump around the battlefield. Only, it didn't do them much good, as the blond, now shining with an even brighter light so she was virtually a being _made of light_ at this point, was right there when they landed and blinding them with an unavoidable blaze of light before binding them with some kind of solid-light-construct that held them bound and immobile on the ground. It took her less than a minute to go around and capture all four enhanced D.U.P. soldiers.

Riley, now covered with so much darkness that she could be confused for a shadow herself, although much deeper than what people would expect, appeared next to her friend's side when it seemed like they'd taken down the last of the opposition. But then, they both knew better than that by now.

Hands clasped once more, a shadow-field, which seemed to sparkle like the night sky, manifested around them. It was the only reason they were aware of the attack, as several bullets sparked and deflected off of the field while they stood there.

Maya's eyes flashed and began to almost shine with their own light as she instantly traced the snipers back to their positions via sight. Rather than do the same as they had been, telling Riley where they were so she could use shadows and darkness to try and capture their assailants, Maya merely raised her other hand and shot out her "lightning" laser blasts at each of them. They'd each been huddled down, so she couldn't exactly target them per se, but blasting their cover or the stuff all around them seemed to be enough to get them to stop. The one that she did have a clear shot at, Riley seemed to wake up and know what she was doing, and there was a surge of darkness around the lightning-quick laser this time so that when she hit the man, he was instantly covered in a cocoon of shadow and solid darkness.

" **We aren't murderers, Maya** ," Riley's dark and seducing voice admonished her. " **We're only defending ourselves. They'll see that, in time. Right now, we have to go. Otherwise we'll…** "

She stopped talking as that 'otherwise' became all too apparent.

A new vehicle drove out of the tunnel exit, one that headed straight for the pair of them before skidding to a stop so that its rear end was facing the still-powered-up Conduits. As they watched, the hatch of the D.U.P. vehicle slowly opened up and out stepped a face that very few had seen over the past year. The tall, red-haired woman in a dark grey military uniform, the D.U.P. patch on both shoulders, as well as her insignia marking her as a General, even though the uniform was D.U.P. not Army.

Brooke Augustine, Director and Founder of the Department of Unified Protection, stood before Riley Matthews and Maya Hart, and was the only one to do so. At the peripheral edges, some soldiers were getting back to their feet, or pulling their bound brethren out of the line of fire, while a few made to line up behind their director and target the two "Bio-Terrorists" before them. The tall and imposing woman with dark gray eyes noticed this and made a single, curt gesture that had all of them backing off and focusing on getting their people off the battlefield.

"You know who I am," Augustine stated, hands behind her back as she stood there at parade rest. "If you know anything about what has happened to you, that is. And judging from your level of skill, you must. I could go on to offer you a choice, blather on about how you have no chance of escape and that it is inevitable what will happen next."

She stopped and took a few steps closer to them. "But things have changed for the D.U.P. Things, believe it or not, have changed for… for _Conduits_. Miss Matthews. Miss Hart. Yes, I know who you are. I also know what has happened to you. To both of you. And despite the fact that my word means exactly nothing to you at this time, allow me to assure you that the D.U.P. had nothing to do with the most unfortunate death of one Katy Grace Clutterbucket-Hunter. That was the tragic result of a mob of… _normal people_ targeting the two of you."

Maya's hand in hers clenched so tightly that it was already hurting. The girl's shining aura, which made her look like an angel surrounded by a halo of light, brightened and took on a quality similar to an open flame, making her look more like a halogen lamp in human form. In response to the greater level of light and surge of power from her symbiotic partner, Riley's own aura darkened to the point that she wasn't just surrounded by shadows, but she was the proverbial _living shadow_!

Raising her hands in surrender, of sorts, Augustine took a single step back and continued to speak. "Don't misunderstand me, please! The moment that I heard about the assault, I came here as soon as I could. I don't want anyone else getting hurt anymore than you do. I am only here to talk."

" _ **Then let us go!**_ " they both said in unison, their altered voices making for a unique sound.

"If I do that," Augustine cautioned, "then it may not be the D.U.P. you face, but another faceless mob, and they won't stop until they taste blood. You've both already seen that, haven't you?"

" _You just want to imprison us_!" Maya accused. " _That is all the D.U.P. does_!"

"I _protect_ Conduits, _from_ the normal people!" she protested.

" **They were just SHOOTing AT US**!" Riley screamed, waving with her other hand at the no-longer-there-soldiers.

" _Against_ my orders!" the Head of the D.U.P. insisted. "It is why I got here as soon as I could, the moment I learned what was happening. Please, girls, hear me out."

" _And if we don't_?" Maya challenged.

There was a brief moment, a very brief moment, where they could both see the conflict in their adversary's eyes, of following her instincts, or doing what she knew she had to in order to resolve this peacefully. In the end, it seems she went with her instincts.

"Well then," she said as her eyes and voice grew as hard as the she controlled, "that would be a mistake."

 _keep her talking_

Maya almost reacted, but the glare of her current state hid any tells she might have given away. She didn't know Riley could do that, make the shadows whisper right in her ear so no one else could hear. Knowing her best friend as well as she did, she figured that she was up to something. What, she could only begin to guess at, but it would hopefully get them out of there with the least number of casualties possible. Although, if she were being honest, Maya didn't really care one way or the other if there _were_ casualties on the Dupes' side of things.

" _We… we're listening_ ," Maya stammered, hopefully portraying her 'intimidated tough girl' act as flawlessly as she intended.

Apparently she was, because Augustine went back to the 'nice police officer' routine she'd been using from the start.

"Excellent, I knew I could get you girls to see reason," the redhead said.

While the Conduit of Concrete continued to speak, Maya quickly deduced what her partner and friend was up to. It was something that everyone had noticed after the girls powers had first manifested; how at dawn and noon especially, Maya seemed to be almost hyper-energetic and generally happy, and how at nightfall, Riley became cold and calculating, and for the both of them their respective powers were at their peak during those few minutes to an hour. At the brightest time of day, Maya could create and control light as easily as breathing, and at the darkest times of the day, Riley could manipulate and control even the lightest shadow and do absolutely anything she wanted with it. _Anything_.

With the sun set, and the city lights only just beginning to turn on, it was the darkest New York City had been all day. Augustine never noticed, until it was too late, how all of the shadows and pits of darkness normally ignored during the day suddenly became _alive_!

"When I first became a Conduit, before that moment I was just an ordinary soldier," she told them, ignorant of the movement all around her. "My orders were to kill all the Conduits, but suddenly I _was_ one. So, I found another way. To keep the peace, maintain the status quo, I created the D.U.P. to, yes, capture Conduits, but so they would be _protected_ from the common thug or less enlightened government soldier. What happened to your mother, Miss Hart, was because of ignorant civilians. _Not_ the D.U.P. or my soldiers. I suppose, in the end, however, it is up to you girls how you want to decide."

She then clenched her fist and suddenly the pavement around the young women cracked and shattered. A couple of shards flew and embedded themselves in the girls legs… or at least they tried to. The ones around Riley went _through_ her as though she wasn't even there, as though she'd _become_ a shadow! The ones around Maya bounced off an invisible, yet clearly present force field that easily deflected the solid projectiles. Frowning with frustration, Augustine decided to follow through on her 'new' approach of being the 'Nice Cop', to her usual 'carrot on the end of a stick' method.

"You can run," she finally said. "And I can promise you this, not only will I be forced to hunt you down, but I will not be the only one. You can hide, but the same will happen, you'll just be endangering any of those that harbor or aid you. Or… you can come with me, willingly. You will not be imprisoned, merely… detained. For your protection. Think of it as Witness Protection, like you see in the movies."

" **Witness Protection doesn't mean being held in a military detention facility against our will** ," Riley's voice seemed to come from every shadow and lengthening stretch of darkness around them, especially since no one could see her mouth anymore.

" _Yeah, and I don't do so well in detention. We found that out the hard way,_ " Maya added. " _You're going to have to do better than that if you want our cooperation, General Augustine._ "

"Despite whatever rumors you may have heard," the redhead was quick to respond, actually stepping closer to them, holding her hands out in peace, "Curden Cay and our other facilities are not prisons. The walls and security are only there to protect those within from the threats outside. I can clearly see that both of you are minors, and Miss Hart's father hardly seems interested in her life at this stage. Miss Matthews, however, your parents love you very much. That is clear. I would think that it would be just as clear that they hold your friend here with much the same regard. I can guarantee that both Mr and Mrs Matthews will be present before any permanent decisions are made. Visitation can be—"

" **VISITATION?!** " Riley's voice had been whispery and soft up to this point. Now it was angry and harsh, and louder than anything most had ever heard. The darkness could be just as loud as the light, it was just better at being quiet. " **I am a minor in the eyes of the law. There is no legal reason for you to take me away from my parents care, and I happen to know for a fact that Maya's guardianship is to be transferred to my parents or Shawn Hunter! My mother crafted Katy Hart's will and testament, and Maya and I were both witness to that! So if you are doing anything BUT returning us to my parents care, then that is kidnapping. A felony. And until you have their permission, you cannot take us anywhere that they cannot freely access. So there!** "

"..." Augustine stared at the standing shadow, before taking a deep breath and responded. "So be it then. Take them." She spun on her heel and walked back to her vehicle without looking back once.

"I hate lawyers," she muttered to herself under her breath.

" _Now?_ " Maya asked, anxious.

" **Now,** " Riley answered, and they both sprung into action.

Before, the cord between them had been rope-thin and merely been a method by which their powers fed one another. Now it was a constant stream of energy, so intermingled that it was almost impossible to tell where the light began and the darkness ended. It was nearly a meter in thickness, even at it smallest point, and like those that it connected it was in constant motion, much like a tesla coil or Jakob's Ladder or electric ball. Dark and Light were once again moving, running throughout the streets of New York, but that impressive sight was nothing next to Dark's 'little surprise' that she'd cooked up for Augustine and her dupes.

Riley was flitting from one pool of darkness to the next, always appearing right where the soldiers never expected her to come from, at which point she lashed out with her control over the very darkness surrounding them and bound them in place with whips and ropes and bindings of inky blackness. The few times that they managed to strike back at her, and mostly that was the power-enhanced D.U.P. soldiers, she was prepared and to them it was like trying to catch a shadow, their physical blows going right through her.

Maya was racing along at lightspeed, or whatever her Conduit-equivalent was, leaving a streak of gold-white sparkles and streaks of light in her wake. She wasn't about to try and manhandle these older men, trained soldiers that they were, so she settled for blasting them at long range. Riley's words about not being murderers still rung in her head, so she made sure to only target their weapons, her 'white lasers' practically able to vaporize (or equivalent) whatever it hit, so she knew just how careful she had to be.

At one point, however, they saw just how outnumbered they truly were and decided to stop holding back. They both converged on their link, coming together in huge explosion of Light and Dark, the two of them almost completely overcome by their respective elements so that they were practically raw energy as much as physical matter. At the point of confluence, they both seemed to merge, becoming the proverbial three-dimensional Yin-Yang, a constant strobe of blinding light and infinite darkness. And out from this sphere of energetic balance and conflict came lancing white lasers and black sparkly missiles, quickly devastating the D.U.P. forces arrayed against them. The few smart, strong, or tough enough to try and fight back and throw what few resources they could (IE; bullets, grenades, or giant concrete rocks that explode on contact), soon found that this fused state had more than just the offensive advantage. A shimmering and sparking field of energy surrounded the fused energy creature that Riley and Maya had become, and judging from everything that it could do, some might say that it could theoretically protect against the primary explosion of a nuclear device.

It was like shoot fish in a barrel. In their highly energized state, the two young women knew they could not be harmed and they both could move and react at speeds that boggled the mind. They vaporized every weapon, bound every soldier, and disabled every vehicle, manned or otherwise, that they could see.

To be fair, the soldiers did their jobs to the best of their ability. But how can you shoot—even with a grenade launcher—a streak of light that is as fast as lightning, or a flicker of shadow that cannot be physically attacked? And at the same time deal with your _own shadow_ coming up off the ground and trying to restrain you?

Yeah, Riley had managed to extend her influence and control of darkness to _every_ shadow within range, giving them the same semi-solid substance that she enjoyed while part shadow. Augustine's own shadow even rose up and tried to trip her a few times, but the experienced woman would have none of that and merely started floating, held up by the power she possessed to move and control concrete, including that around her feet and arms. That it subsequently cast a yellow/gold 'glow' that dispersed the shadows immediately around her only gave her a brief shield, but she took what she could.

"So, you've made your decision then?" she called out with a sneer that looked _way_ too natural on her face.

The Yin-Yang energy creature slowed down and separated. Coalescing back into the Conduit of Dark and Conduit of Light, the two young women, still incandescent with their abundance of power, floated back down to the ground from the position in the sky where they'd taken out most of the D.U.P.'s forces with a single attack.

"No, it doesn't sound like they have!" a voice echoed out between the buildings. From the way her expression dropped to one of fear, it was clear the D.U.P. Leader recognized it.

"No," she gasped, losing concentration and control of her powers, enough that her shadow could finally reach her and drag her down to the ground, binding her in place. "No, it can't be! You're supposed to still be in Seattle!"

A giant angel, made out of electrons and video static, modelled after a rather imposing character from a popular video game, swooped overhead. A neon pink ribbon of light ran up and down the buildings, almost as fast as Maya could move, drawing out the message along the darkened buildings; ' _GUESS WHO?_ ' Almost unnoticed after such huge displays, there was the sound of leaves in the wind, or perhaps rustling paper, and a flock of origami birds showered down out of the rapidly darkening sky, accompanying the rain that was almost an afterthought.

Then there was a surge throughout the air. A bolt of lightning, _real actual electric LIGHTNING_ , struck the area between the young Conduits and the prone D.U.P. Director, briefly strengthening the shadows as they became noticeably darker when cast from such a bright source of light.

When the dust settled and everyone (except Maya who was unaffected) could see again a new group of players had appeared on the board.

Wearing the almost stereotypical schoolgirl uniform, except the blazer had a white angel spray painted on the back, an Asian woman wearing a paper 'bunny' mask stood on the far left.

Opposite her, a young woman, perhaps only a few years older than Riley and Maya, with purple and pink hair and a number of piercings, dressed in running shoes, torn black tights, denim shorts and an old army jacket—also with a white angel spray painted on the back. Augustine flinched when those green eyes stared her way.

Next to the girl with the purple hair, almost hiding amongst those beside him, a shorter, brown haired young man with thick rimmed glasses stood. He was dressed almost as the stereotypical Gamer geek of today's generation, hoodie and baggy jeans included. Except for the fact that he too had the same white angel spray painted on the back of said hoodie.

And finally, standing at the center, bolts of electricity still sparking off his hands, a distinctive yellow and black jacket on his back and a red bandana on his head, was a tall and cocky Native American youth. Although, given that he was more than nineteen years old by this point, youth might be an exaggeration.

"Long time no see, Brooke," said Delsin Rowe, the Banner Hero of Seattle.

"Remember us?" taunted Abigail Walker, aka Fetch.

"Seattle is safe now," said Eugene Sims, aka Teen Angel, "We're here to protect other Conduits. Starting with New York."

"You're wrong Augustine," whispered Celia Penderghast, aka the White Rabbit. "You've been wrong about a lot of things. There is another way. A better way. I intend to help Delsin find it."

"... You're all going to regret this…" the bound soldier growled out.

" _ **No, we're not**_ ," came the dual-voice of Maya and Riley speaking in unison. " _ **Because we have made a decision. We won't be afraid of the world, like you are Augustine. And… sorry, we're not going to fight the world either.**_ " This was said to the quartet that had arrived too late to truly intervene or rescue them, but the sentiment was appreciated nevertheless.

Light shone upon Riley, and shadows crept over Maya, and slowly the visible effects of their powers faded away until they were just a couple of ordinary teenage girls once again. And yet, the shadows were still alive, and there was a brief sparking in the air around the two, showing that the force field was still in effect.

Riley knelt down so she could look Brooke Augustine in the eye as she said, "We're going to go out and meet the world. Face to face. Because I'm Riley, and she's Maya. And that is what we're going to do."

"... Naive fools!"

Riley just smiled and patted the dangerous woman on the head and said magnanimously, "I forgive you." Then she stood up and walked away.

"Is it OK if I don't?" Fetch asked as the four Conduits from Seattle followed the two New York Conduits.

END. (Really, The End, no continuation. Sorry.)


End file.
